Literature

Nobel Prize lecture

German 7. Dezember 2008 Im Wald der Paradoxe Warum schreibt man? Ich nehme an, dass jeder eine Antwort auf diese einfache Frage hat. Die Veranlagung, das Milieu, die Umstände spielen dabei eine Rolle. Auch die Dinge zu denen man nicht fähig ist. Wenn man schreibt, bedeutet das, dass man nicht handelt. Dass man eine gewisse…

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Nobel Prize lecture

French Le 7 décembre 2008 Dans la forêt des paradoxes Pourquoi écrit-on ? J’imagine que chacun a sa réponse à cette simple question. Il y a les prédispositions, le milieu, les circonstances. Les incapacités aussi. Si l’on écrit, cela veut dire que l’on n’agit pas. Que l’on se sent en difficulté devant la réalité, que l’on…

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Speed read

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio has said that the French language is the only place where he feels a sense of belonging. He is someone who has always lived on the edge, and in-between, and is hard to identify with a single locality. Itinerant from childhood, he has continued to travel, and now divides his time…

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Speed read

Doris Lessing’s career, like that of Mario Capecchi, another 2007 Nobel Laureate, shows that a strict pattern of formal schooling is not the only way to success. Lessing was born in Persia (now Iran), to British parents, but her family moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in hope of a better future. However, that future…

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Speed read

In this age of mass media, mass movement, and globalization it is likely that we will confront different cultures and different races as we go about our daily business. But Turkey, which straddles the intersection of East and West, has always had to deal with the problems and pleasures of diversity. The best-selling Turkish novelist…

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Poetry

Swedish Har ni sett en koltramp … Har ni sett en koltramp komma ur en orkan – med bräckta bommar, sönderslitna relingar, bucklig, stånkande, förfelad – och med en skeppare som är alldeles hes? Fnysande lägger den till vid den soliga kajen, utmattad slickande sina sår, medan ångan tynar i pannorna. Av Harry Martinson Ur…

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Facts

On 27 November 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, giving the largest share of his fortune to a series of prizes, the Nobel Prizes. As described in Nobel’s will one part was dedicated to “the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal…

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